It’s time to make TV debates a core part of our electionsThe TV debate has become, in a relatively short period, a major part of British general elections. The expectation that Theresa May would take part, only for her to not, has even been described as...Posted 05 Dec 2017
New Zealand election: Citizens make the most of fair votesSaturday saw New Zealand go to the polls for its eighth election since they ditched the broken first past the post system and adopted Mixed-Member Proportional representation (MMP) in 1993. Mixed-Member Proportional is a variant...Posted 27 Sep 2017
The abandoned boundary review could be a big opportunityIt was reported today in The Times that the planned review of constituency boundaries and cut in MPs may be scrapped due to opposition in Parliament. If the report is to be believed, the Boundary...Posted 06 Sep 2017
Electoral reform returns to the agenda in British ColumbiaBritish Columbia, Canada’s most Western province, has often been the site of electoral reform intrigue. In the run-up to the 1952 provincial election the Conservative and Liberal parties tried to stop the socialist Co-operative Commonwealth...Posted 18 May 2017
Local spending matters when votes aren’t equalToday we have seen the consequences of a violation of the rules on campaign spending, one facet of the way political parties are funded. Yet the Electoral Commission’s fine of the Conservative party for breaching reporting rules...Posted 16 Mar 2017
How will the 2017 French presidential election work?After last year’s political whirlwind, attention has turned to 2017’s elections for evidence of further shocks. Voters are going to the polls in the Netherlands, in Germany but most attention is focused on France, whose...Posted 13 Jan 2017
How Trump won the Presidency despite not winning the most votesSo that sure was an election. Whatever happened in the US presidential election it was always going to be a historic moment. On Tuesday I pointed out that Donald Trump could win the Presidency even if...Posted 09 Nov 2016
How Trump could win the Presidency even if he doesn’t win the most votesIt’s election day in the United States, and that means all the pageantry and spectacle one comes to expect with democracy in the world’s most powerful nation. The spectacle of a US election also reminds...Posted 08 Nov 2016
The ludicrousness of hereditary peer by-electionsThe British constitution, its parliament and its institutions are well known for its oddities and eccentricities: the space provided in the Commons cloakroom for MPs to hang their sword; the fact that all swans in...Posted 15 Sep 2016
Referendums are in vogue – so let’s get them rightReferendums are becoming increasingly popular, internationally and domestically. Since the first UK referendum in 1975, the UK has held three nationally, and 11 in UK countries or English regions, with even more at a local...Posted 05 Sep 2016